Overview
- At the Election Commission’s request, the Interior Ministry cleared deployment of the Pakistan Army and civil armed forces for the Nov. 23 by-polls.
- Civil armed forces will serve as second-tier standby responders and the Army as third-tier in-situ Quick Reaction Force, according to official notifications.
- The federal government empowered deployed personnel under Sections 4 and 5 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, while the ECP granted first-class magistrate powers to designated officers for Nov. 22–24.
- Forces will remain in standby/response mode from Nov. 22–24 across constituencies including NA-18 Haripur, NA-96 and NA-104 Faisalabad, NA-143 Sahiwal, NA-185 DG Khan and NA-129 Lahore, with additional deployments on Punjab Assembly seats.
- The ECP escalated code-of-conduct enforcement with notices to KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry, and Afridi has petitioned the Peshawar High Court; separately, ANP announced support for PML-N’s Babar Nawaz Khan in NA-18 Haripur.